Feds to poison plants along the border where criminals hide

The U.S. Border Patrol plans to start poisoning the plant life along a mile stretch of the Rio Grande to try to eliminate places were smugglers, robbers and illegal immigrants can hide, The Houston Chronicle reports.

The pilot program will test three methods for getting rid of carrizo cane, which has thick stalks in which people can easily evade detection.

Teams will try to cut the cane by hand, dig it out by the roots with mechanical equipment, or spray it with herbicide from helicopters.

If the pilot program in the Laredo area works, it could be used all along the U.S.-Mexico border, the paper says.

Although Border Patrol and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials say the chemical is safe for animals, critics question the possible long-term effects. They point to the U.S. military's use of Agent Orange in Vietnam to try to strip foliage to make it easier to spot guerrillas along the Ho Chi Minh trail, The Chronicle says.

(Photo of Webb County officers at a border area near Laredo, Texas, by Hector Mata, AFP/Getty Images)

Posted at 08:54 AM/ET, March 24, 2009
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